Elsalvajeloco

Holly Holm is out of her UFC 181 bout.

Someone on the IMDB board: Television director? Pass. It took me about a good ten minutes to stop laughing.

Miesha Tate vs. Sara McMann at UFC 183 Bigfoot Silva vs. Mir at UFC 184 Demetrious Johnson wants to return in February or March.

Hope they can sell out that show then. I imagine the show being in a stadium and on Fox was probably a good way to convince Gustafsson and his manager to take the fight. Knowing how things can go, you don't really want to be on the shelf forever. I know how guys might not want to tempt fate, but the Manuwa fight was in March. If Jones vs. Cormier ends up in a controversial decision and public opinion demands a rematch, Gustafsson is fucked six ways from Sunday. He would've been out of a legitimate fight for about a year and half. At least with this, if Jones or Cormier fall out of the fight, he can be on standby for a title shot or interim title shot. Either way, he gets paid if he stays healthy.

I had no idea WSOF signed Kalindra Faria. I thought the UFC would eventually snatch her up when she left 125. She is one of the few female fighters I watch not because I have to. But yeah, the Branch vs. Okami and Aguilar vs. Faria bouts could be brutal to watch from an entertainment standpoint.

Fox. McGregor vs. Siver is the FS1 show for January.

The show will take place at Tele2 Arena, which seats between 40-45k (probably configured to about 30k). Also, it will take place during regular US primetime hours.

Isn't Bellator the Seniors MMA Division of the UFC? Disqualifying a cease-and-desist Bellator most likely received, the whole not being able to fight due to indefinite suspension rules that out. Hence, why I said that.

MMAjunkie ‏@MMAjunkie 6m Wanderlei Silva pulled from Bellator appearance this week due to existing UFC contractual obligations. Story soon at http://mmajunkie.com

UFC 180: Werdum vs. Hunt November 15, 2014 Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico (Arena Ciudad de México) Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship: Fabrício Werdum (232) vs. Mark Hunt (265) - Werdum, TKO (flying knee and punches), R2 (2:27) Jake Ellenberger (171) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (170) - Gastelum, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (4:46) Ricardo Lamas (145) vs. Dennis Bermudez (146) - Lamas, SUB (guillotine choke), R1 (3:18) Augusto Montaño (169) vs. Chris Heatherly (170) - Montaño, TKO (knees), R1 (4:50) Edgar García (170) vs. Héctor Urbina (169) - Urbina, SUB (guillotine choke), R1 (3:38) Fox Sports 1 Preliminary Card: The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America Featherweight Final: Yair Rodríguez (145) vs. Leonardo Morales (144) - Rodriguez, DEC (unanimous) The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America Bantamweight Final: Alejandro Pérez (135) vs. José Alberto Quiñónez (135) - Pérez, DEC (unanimous) Jessica Eye (134) vs. Leslie Smith (134) - Eye, TKO (Referee Stoppage Due to Ear Injury), R2 (1:30) Gabriel Benítez (145) vs. Humberto Brown (146) - Benítez, SUB (guillotine choke), R3 (0:30) Fight Pass Preliminary Card: Henry Briones (134) vs. Guido Cannetti (135) - Briones, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (1:44) Marco Beltrán (136) vs. Marlon Vera (135) - Beltrán, DEC (unanimous) Event Bonuses ($50,000): Performance of the Night: Kelvin Gastelum Performance of the Night: Fabrício Werdum Fight of the Night: Henry Briones vs. Guido Cannetti Attendance: 21,000 Gate: $1.6 million Buyrate: 185,000 Cancelled Bouts: Diego Sanchez vs. Norman Parke - Injury to Parke (MCL) Érik Pérez vs. Marcus Brimage - Injury to Perez (Shoulder) Cain Velasquez vs. Fabrício Werdum - Injury to Velasquez (Knee) Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Lauzon - Injury to Both Fighters

Yeah, indeed. So does this go back to there essentially being no quality control when it comes to gyms and training camps, or is UFC that unlucky and has a bunch of snakebit fighters on top? Eh, it's a bit more than that essentially IMO. Most of the top coaches have been around for awhile. I believe Michael Carroll (either him or one of the other MMA statistician guys) tabulated data and found out that the Alpha Male camp pulled out of fights the least over a certain period of time. But it's not like Alpha Male is known for their ability to only go hard during padwork. Guys from outside the gym (I remember Nam Phan being one) talked about how they got beat up going into the room because it's so high level. However, I would attribute some of their success to the fact that they haven't let the size of their team swell to late era Xtreme Couture. If they were like ATT where there was a new guy wearing their gym patch on their shorts every UFC show, Alpha Male would eventually get up there in terms of people getting injured. Then it is pretty much a percentage game. Since I brought him up in passing already, I will use the Rafael Cordeiro example. Jordan Breen always alludes to a certain coach and how he is shocked at some of the stuff that goes on in their gym he has witnessed. I'm 99.9% certain it's Rafael Cordeiro. The thing is, when his fighters fight, you're never going to doubt whether they left it all in the cage. I would use the Ann Wolfe/James Kirkland boxing example, but Cordeiro has a track record of success with more than one fighter. He actually has trained champions and trains title contenders. Shit, he's cornering guy in a UFC title fight THIS WEEKEND. I am also certain that many top coaches would never approve of his methods. That's pretty much a good reason so many people split off from Chute Boxe years old and did their own thing. That and giant management rifts. However, the latter can be accredited to Rudimar mainly. But how is someone like Fabricio Werdum able to make it to the fight and Cain Velasquez doesn't? Moreover, MMA culture is just vastly different now. Your gym is your gym. It's not like fourteen or fifteen years ago where one gym would train with another gym. It still goes down but it's usually small gym to big gym (i.e. some broom closet in the midwest to Coconut Creek). It's not like when the Minnesota and Ohio guys were going down to train in Bettendorf after fighting each other in Extreme Challenge and wherever else Monte Cox reigned. The Tri-Star/Grudge/Jackson's thing is pretty much over with too. Travis Browne just left Jackson's to go to LA, but he isn't like "Hey, I am going to come back eventually". It's more like "Edmond is the fucking greatest coach EVER!' and "I didn't get enough attention in ABQ". Point being that fighters get in where they (believe) fit in. Their careers have pretty much overshadowed the meaning behind why and where they train. Firas isn't going to change the fact Miguel Torres is done as a fighter. But that's the culture. Firas trained GSP. "I" believe I can be champion. Let me train with Firas. If Greg Jackson and Winklejohn were just two bums that owned a gym somewhere out in the desert, Alistair Overeem wouldn't train with them. Thus, Overeem wouldn't roll up into Jackson's and injure Jon Jones back in August. Even if it was just something ordinary and/or a freak accident, Overeem comes from a culture vastly different than one you'd find in the states. I don't want to put a negative connotation behind it, but it is what it is.

I am more worried about Cain than I was ever was with Cruz. Cruz had hand issues in the past but he didn't have a really big chunk of time out of the cage until after UFC 132. There are a ton of guys right now that are snakebit and then a major injury really hampers their ability to make it into the cage. At some point, they usually get back on the horse and have no problems over the next 3-4 bouts. They just aren't current UFC champions or top fighters. Cain goes beyond that because he either goes into a fight with a major injury or he leaves with one. Then, add in the fact that wrestling night at AKA is very physical and Cain has injury history with both legs. It's a recipe for disaster every camp. It may be time for the UFC reassess how they are going to utilize him in the future. Stripping him of the belt would only be one part of it.

I am not sure what Wanderlei can do for Bellator. People don't watch him for his oratory skills. I just take it as "Hey, Wand's coach has his gym in SoCal so why not capitalize on that and his name." Because there is pretty much nothing they can do with him that would be beneficial for Bellator.

This was always suppose to be a Spike show. They are done with PPV for the foreseeable future. Maybe 2016 at the earliest.

Bellator 131: Tito vs. Bonnar November 15, 2014 San Diego, CA (Valley View Casino Center) Tito Ortiz (205.5) vs. Stephen Bonnar (205.5) - Ortiz, DEC (split) Bellator Lightweight Championship: Michael Chandler (154.5) vs. Will Brooks (154.5) (vacant) - Brooks, TKO (punches), R4 (3:48) Melvin Manhoef (185.5) vs. Joe Schilling (186) - Schilling, KO (punch), R2 (0:32) Nam Phan (143) vs. Mike Richman (142) - Richman, KO (punches), R1 (0:46) Muhammad Lawal (204.5) vs. Joe Vedepo (205) - Lawal, TKO (punches), R3 (0:39) Spike.com Preliminary Card: Ian Butler (156) vs. Joao Paulo Faria (155) - Faria, SUB (arm triangle choke), R3 (1:58) AJ Matthews (186.4) vs. Kyle Bolt (186) - Matthews, KO (punches), R1 (1:39) Ron Henderson (125.5) vs. Jonathan Santa Maria (125) - Santa Maria, DEC (split) Andy Murad (185.5) vs. Bubba Pugh (185.5) - Murad, DEC (split) Matthew Ramirez (132) vs. Nick Garcia (125.5) - Garcia, SUB (guillotine choke), R2 (0:56) Jordan Bailey (145.5) vs. Alex Higley (145.5) - Bailey, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (3:27) Rolando Perez (135.5) vs. Mark Vorgeas (137) - DRAW (split) Attendance: 8,100 Rating: 1.241 million viewers Cancelled Bouts: Muhammad Lawal vs. Tom DeBlass - Injury to DeBlass (Cut)

The UFC card in Broomfield for 2/14 has 3 official fights so far: Max Holloway vs. Cole Miller, Zach Makovsky vs. Tim Elliot, and Ray Borg vs. Chris Kelades Rick Story vs. Brandon Thatch is rumored but not confirmed yet.

If you haven't watched it already, you need to watch the Amin Mansour vs. Fred Kassi fight. Just a brutal, brutal finish.

Joseph Randle just ran like he stole something

Different opponents. I believe they are set up to fight during International Fight Week. It's in the MMA Talk thread a couple pages back.

Well, Bader was smart enough to not leap headlong into punches like he did against Machida and Glover and do what Shogun did tonight. Sometimes, you need a few wakeup calls (or brief in-cage power naps) to get the message.

Rodolfo Rubio might (and should) get cut on the bus trip back to the fighter hotel.

Thomas de Almeida will either be slightly better Edson Barboza with better cardio or a legit top BW within 2 or 3 years. It is only either/or. No in between if he stays with his current camp. You see the potential and also the several mistakes he makes. The learning curve inside the UFC is going to be quite interesting to follow.

No. This is a very unique fight in that Kovalev is really the first real bruiser that can conceivably put Hopkins down. Maybe Tito Trinidad, but I always considered him a big hitter for junior middleweight. Yeah, William Joppy made him look like Jesus Christ at 160. But he didn't face a significant # of middleweights before retirement #1. I never considered Pavlik to be that guy either. He had a solid run up to taking the belts from Jermain, but his run WITH the belts was very mediocre much like Jermain Taylor post Taylor-Hopkins II. On the other hand, Kovalev has not faced a murderer's row of light heavyweights. The knockout win over the Black Russian was neat. Beating Campillo was decent, but we know Campillo is like 1/4 as good as he was years ago. He had some good wins, but not over anyone you would expect a good prospect at 175 to lose to. I'm not slagging him off because he easily could down 90% of the top guys who have fought at 175 since Hopkins beat Tarver. It has been a top heavy division for several years now. The one intriguing thing is the strength of schedule. Career-wise, it's Bernard Hopkins no contest. But Kovalev isn't facing 35 year old Bernard Hopkins who is about to whoop on the invincible bully Felix Trinidad for the legitimate middleweight throne. This is AARP Bernard Hopkins who is still ring saavy as ever, but many rounds he chooses just to throw paint brush punches. If this was the Hopkins that fought Pavlik in AC, I would feel very confident in my pick. But recent strength-of-schedule makes it very much a tossup. It's Bernard Hopkins fresh off a win versus Beibut "My Chief Second is Dewey Cooper" Shumenov. You need a certain level of activity to beat Kovalev, and Hopkins has not been asked to do much since his rematch with Dawson really. Taking all that into account, this is one of the toughest fights to choose a winner for in quite awhile. Logic gives both guys an advantage, yet shows how both can easily lose.

#UFCUberlandia ‏@ufc 22s Colorado ! We're headed your way Feb 14, 2015! UFC returns to 1stBank Center in Broomfield, CO for #UFCFightNight on @FOXSports1.

http://www.ufc.com/news/McCall-Lineker-Off-Due-to-Illness